House of the Day: Antebellum Style in Alabama: Built to be functional yet elegant in the style of Southern antebellum homes, this two-story home in Huntsville, Ala., has high ceilings, high-end finishes and city and golf-course views.

Here is a look at real-estate news in the weekend’s and Monday’s WSJ:

The Outlook: U.S. Gambles with Mortgage Retreat: Three years after virtually nationalizing the U.S. mortgage market, the government now is trying to see if private industry picks up the slack, a move that some people in the housing industry worry will cause fresh pain in many regions.

Rate Drop Hits Some Mortgage Investors: The refinancing boomlet is roiling parts of the $5 trillion market for mortgage-backed securities, where investors had bought bonds in anticipation that activity would remain low.

China Housing Prices Inch Lower: China’s housing prices recorded a modest decline for the first time this year, indicating the government’s campaign to cool the housing market had achieved some success.

Canadians Warm to Phoenix: Phoenix and other warm-weather cities that have seen real-estate values crater are newly popular among Canadians looking for second homes or investment properties, brokers and buyers say.

House of the Day: Antebellum Style in Alabama: Built to be functional yet elegant in the style of Southern antebellum homes, this two-story home in Huntsville, Ala., has high ceilings, high-end finishes and city and golf-course views.

In Manhattan, Slimmer Pickings: According to new statistics released by Cassidy Turley, the available space in Manhattan continued to decline in the third quarter.

Spaces: Tower Bridges Divergent Styles: Negotiating the confrontation of architectural styles on Manhattan’s Upper East Side is a 510-foot tower of glass, steel and floating stone masonry panels that has risen along 102nd Street, just off of Fifth Avenue.

A High Roller Feels the Bite of Foreclosure: As most of the country struggled with the widening recession in 2008, Paul Parmar, a private-equity investor, boased that he was still buying luxury cars and jets. Now he faces foreclosure on his 32-acre New Jersey property.